Video indexing, search and delivery platforms, methods, systems and apparatuses

ABSTRACT

A video ingest, search and delivery solution is provided in which videos and their associated metadata are ingested based on ingest criteria. Moments in the metadata are identified by parsing comments in the metadata for comments that reference a time in the video. Moments are recorded with the referenced time and the text of the comment. Videos are rated and may be delivered to users based at least in part on the rating. Moments may be displayed together with the video by displaying the text of moments at the associated time in the video as the video is being delivered. The text of moment records may be searched based on search parameters received form a user to identify videos to deliver to the user.

This application for letters patent disclosure document describesinventive aspects that include various novel innovations (hereinafter“disclosure”) and contains material that is subject to copyright, maskwork, and/or other intellectual property protection. The respectiveowners of such intellectual property have no objection to the facsimilereproduction of the disclosure by anyone as it appears in publishedPatent Office file/records, but otherwise reserve all rights.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/170,259, filed Oct. 25, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/726,915, filed Oct. 6, 2017, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent Ser. No. 15/457,639, filed Mar. 13, 2017 andissued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,785,709, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/158,775, filed May 19, 2016 and issuing as U.S.Pat. No. 9,594,834, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/925,262, filed Oct. 28, 2015 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,348,909,which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/220,341,filed Sep. 18, 2015, each of which are hereby incorporated by referencein their entireties.

BACKGROUND

The present innovations generally address discovering and displayingvideos from around the Internet, and more particularly, include VIDEOINDEXING, SEARCH AND DELIVERY (“VISD”) PLATFORMS, APPARATUSES, METHODSAND SYSTEMS.

The Internet has developed over the past decades from being a source ofinformation to now also being a source of entertainment. One of themajor factors influencing this development has been the increases incomputing power and data transmission bandwidth available to consumersat reasonable prices. An inexpensive tablet computer now has a videoprocessing capability that once required a room of expensive, highlyspecialized equipment to provide. Similarly, the bandwidth of datatransmission over the Internet available to consumer devices now evenover cellular data networks exceeds by orders of magnitude what wasavailable with prior, astronomically expensive, cutting edge opticalnetworks.

With the development of the Internet towards fulfilling entertainmentneeds, a parallel development has been underway with respect to contentcreation. Beginning with the handful of over-the-air television networksthat once produced the vast majority of entertainment content, consumersenjoyed a significant increase in content variety with the advent ofcable and satellite television. As Internet connection bandwidth andcomputing power reasonably available to consumers developed to a pointwhere video content could be reliably consumed from Internet sources,consumers experienced a nearly limitless expansion of entertainmentcontent available to them. Internet content production had none of therestraints previously imposed by television, meaning that anyone had theability to produce content of any type from anywhere they had anInternet connection. However, the fact that there are limitless choicesin content presents the consumer with the work of wading through thatcontent in order to find content they would like to consume.

The Internet also developed from its early days as a means of socialinteraction amongst users. Early examples of social interaction enabledby the Internet include list-servs, chatrooms, instant messaging andemail. Later, online social networks developed as a more public andpermanent means of social interaction. Early examples included MySpaceand Facebook.

Eventually, entertainment content and social networks became more andmore inter-related. Internet users found social networks as a naturaloutlet to share their opinions and commentary on entertainment contentfound on those social networks and elsewhere on the Internet. Otherusers' opinions and commentary also served as a helpful tool for userstrying to sift through the vast amount of content available on theInternet to find content that they would like to consume. However, therestill is a lot of work required of users to parse the now vast amount ofsocial feedback on equally vast content options available to them, notto mention that social feedback and content are now available fromhundreds or thousands of primary sources.

Accordingly, the present inventions attempt to provide tools to allowusers to enjoy the great content available on the Internet without thesignificant amount of work it currently takes to find, vet and consumethat content.

However, in order to develop a reader's understanding of theinnovations, disclosures have been compiled into a single description toillustrate and clarify how aspects of these innovations operateindependently, interoperate as between individual innovations, and/orcooperate collectively. The application goes on to further describe theinterrelations and synergies as between the various innovations; all ofwhich is to further compliance with 35 U.S.C. § 112.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present innovations generally address discovering and displayingvideos from around the Internet. In general, in one embodiment, a videoingest, search and delivery solution is provided in which videos andtheir associated metadata are ingested based on ingest criteria. Momentsin the metadata are identified by parsing comments in the metadata forcomments that reference a time in the video. Moments are recorded withthe referenced time and the text of the comment. Videos are rated andmay be delivered to users based at least in part on the rating. Momentsmay be displayed together with the video by displaying the text ofmoments at the associated time in the video as the video is beingdelivered. The text of moment records may be searched based on searchparameters received form a user to identify videos to deliver to theuser.

In general, in one embodiment, a method for ingesting and deliveringvideo comprises crawling one or more predetermined video referencesources and selectively ingesting one or more videos and their metadatabased on predetermined ingest criteria, analyzing the ingested videos toidentify moments in the video by parsing comments relating to the video,identifying a moment if a comment includes a reference to a time in thevideo and storing the time and a text of the comment in a record of themoment, rating the video according to predetermined rating factors,selectively delivering videos based on at least one of (a) results ofthe analyzing step, (b) results of the rating step, or (c) videometadata, and displaying moments together with the delivered videos bydisplaying text of a particular moment at the time of the particularmoment as the video is delivered.

In some implementations, the predetermined rating factors include atleast the total number of moments identified for the video or the totalnumber of comments for the video.

In some implementations, the method also includes after a video and itsmetadata is first ingested, ingesting additional metadata for the videothat is dated after a last time that metadata was ingested for thevideo.

In some implementations, the method also includes identifying additionalmoments in the additional metadata, identifying an additional moment ifa comment in the additional metadata includes a reference to a time inthe video and storing the time and a text of such a comment in a recordof the additional moment.

In some implementations, the method also includes comparing the time,the text and an identification of a user associated with a comment inthe additional metadata with already stored records of moments and onlystoring a new moment corresponding to the comment in the additionalmetadata if there is no match.

In some implementations, the method also includes rating the video afteringesting the additional metadata based on all metadata ingested for thevideo.

In some implementations, the predetermined ingest criteria include atleast whether at least one comment at one of a predetermined set of oneor more reference sources contains a reference to a time in a video.

In general, in another embodiment, a method for ingesting and deliveringvideo comprises crawling one or more predetermined video referencesources and selectively ingesting one or more videos and their metadatabased on predetermined ingest criteria, analyzing the ingested videos toidentify moments in the video by parsing comments relating to the video,identifying a moment if a comment includes a reference to a time in thevideo and storing the time and a text of the comment in a record of themoment, rating the video according to predetermined rating factors,searching at least the text of moment records based on search parametersreceived from a user, selectively delivering videos based on the resultsof the searching step in order of their rating as determined by therating step.

In some implementations, the method also includes recording useractivity data related to the user's activity with respect to one or moreingested videos and wherein the rating step includes at least comparingmetadata of the video to the user's activity data.

In some implementations, the user activity data includes data indicatingprevious search parameters received from the user and the rating stepincludes at least comparing metadata of the video to previous searchparameters received from the user.

In some implementations, the ingested metadata includes a title for eachvideo and a description for each video, the title and description beingmaintained by a third party location from which the video and itsmetadata are ingested and the searching step also includes searching thetitles and keywords associate with ingested videos based on the searchparameters received from the user.

In some implementations, the method also includes after a video and itsmetadata is first ingested, ingesting additional metadata for the videothat is dated after a last time that metadata was ingested for thevideo.

In some implementations, the method also includes identifying additionalmoments in the additional metadata, identifying an additional moment ifa comment in the additional metadata includes a reference to a time inthe video and storing the time and a text of such a comment in a recordof the additional moment.

In some implementations, the method also includes rating the video afteringesting the additional metadata based on all metadata ingested for thevideo.

In some implementations, the method also includes storing the searchparameters received from the user as a channel and, in response to thereceipt of a selection of a channel from a user, searching at least thetext of moment records based on search parameters stored in associationwith the channel.

In some implementations, the method also includes identifying additionalmoments in the additional metadata, identifying an additional moment ifa comment in the additional metadata includes a reference to a time inthe video and storing the time and a text of such a comment in a recordof the additional moment, re-rating the video after ingesting theadditional metadata based on all metadata ingested for the video,storing the search parameters received from the user as a channel, inresponse to the receipt of a selection of a channel from a user,re-searching at least the text of moment records and the additionalmoment records based on search parameters stored in association with thechannel, and selectively delivering videos based on the results of there-searching step in order of their rating as determined by there-rating step.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate various non-limiting, example,innovative aspects in accordance with the present descriptions:

FIG. 1 shows a flow chart of a general VISD work flow.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary flow chart of a video and metadata ingest workflow of the VISD system.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary flow chart of a video analysis and momentcreation process 102.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary flow chart of a rating process 103.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram illustrating embodiments of a VISDcontroller.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a decay function.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of VISD platforms, methods, systems and apparatuses aredescribed herein. While aspects of the described VISD platforms,methods, systems and apparatuses can be implemented in any number ofdifferent configurations, the embodiments are described in the contextof the following exemplary configurations. The descriptions and detailsof well-known components and structures are omitted for simplicity ofthe description.

The description and figures merely illustrate exemplary embodiments ofthe inventive VISD platforms, methods, systems and apparatuses. It willthus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devisevarious arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shownherein, embody the principles of the present subject matter.Furthermore, all examples recited herein are intended to be forillustrative purposes only to aid the reader in understanding theprinciples of the present subject matter and the concepts contributed bythe inventors to furthering the art, and are to be construed as beingwithout limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions.Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, andembodiments of the present subject matter, as well as specific examplesthereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.

FIG. 1 shows a flow chart of a general VISD work flow. Videos and theirmetadata are first ingested into the platform 101, analyzed for contentand moment creation 102, rated according to various metrics 103,filtered or searched according to user input and/or other criteria 104and finally video is delivered to a user 105 for their enjoyment. Theanalysis 102 and rating 103 aspects of the work flow may be performedcontinuously, at predetermined intervals, or in response to a manual orpredefined, data-triggered prompts and may include the ingest ofadditional metadata. Similarly, the entire work flow depicted in FIG. 1may be performed continuously, at predetermined intervals, or inresponse to a manual or predefined, data-triggered prompts and mayinclude the ingest of additional videos and metadata. Each of the workflow aspects depicted in FIG. 1 will be described in greater detailbelow.

Ingest

Videos from various sites on the Internet may be ingested into the VISDsystem. FIG. 2 shows an exemplary flow chart of a video and metadataingest work flow of the VISD system. This work flow may be accomplishedby, for example, an ingest component 541 and a crawler component 542.The criteria for which sites or sources, and which videos from thosesites or sources are ingested are configurable according to users'preferences and/or according to an administrator's control. These ingestcriteria are stored in a crawler configuration database 519 a and arefetched at the beginning of an ingest process 201. The ingest criteriaare applied when searching for new videos 202.

Exemplary ingest criteria may include source information for identifyinglocations or websites where video searching may be performed, such as,for example, a particular web page that includes one or more listings ofvideos (such as www.reddit.com/r/videos), particular channels or othergroupings of video content established by third party video sources(such as a particular YouTube channel), and other filters on third partycontent (such as a criteria that an ingest video candidate must bereferenced by a link to a known video hosting site within a Tweet—i.e. aTweet that includes a YouTube link).

Ingest criteria may also include criteria for attributes of videos,which may be source specific. For example, a criteria for ingesting aparticular video may be that the video is one of the top 10 (of courseother numbers may be used) most popular, viewed, and/or commented aboutvideos at that source. As another example, a criteria for ingesting aparticular video referenced in a Tweet may be that the Tweet thatreferences the video includes a trending hashtag where the determinationof which hashtags are trending is made by Twitter. As a related example,an ingest criteria for a video hosted by or linked to by Facebook may bethat a video is included in a post or page that is relevant to atrending topic where the determination of which topics are trending ismade by Facebook. Alternatively, a video source that is identified inthe crawler configuration database 519 a may have no attribute criteriarelevant to it, in which case every video referenced at that source (forexample a particular YouTube Channel) will be ingested. For Redditposts, an ingest criteria may be based on a post's relative rank in asubreddit's various views. For example, a post referencing a video maybe required to be in the top 10 of all posts in the/r/videos subredditin the “Hot” view or the “Rising” view of that subreddit for thereferenced video to be ingested. Another ingest criteria may be thatthere must exist at least one comment relating to the video thatqualifies or is identified as a moment, as discussed below (with respectto step 305 in FIG. 3, for example).

The crawler configuration database 519 a may also include criteriadescribing where a referenced video file may be located. For example, acriteria for a video may be that it is located at YouTube or Vimeo. Inthis example, a video may meet this criteria even if it first becameknown to the VISD system through a link on the www.reddit.com/r/videossite or through a trending Tweet, so long as the referenced video itself(and not necessarily the reference) is located at YouTube or Vimeo.

In addition to possibly including references to video sources wheremultiple videos may be located, the crawler configuration database 519 amay also include references to particular videos. These references, likethe references to video sources where multiple videos may be located maybe entered manually by a user or an administrator or may beautomatically generated based on user activity information 519 f orbased on some other consideration.

At step 203, it is determined whether a video that meets the ingestcriteria is new. As shown in FIG. 2, each time a new video meeting theingest criteria is identified, an entry is made 204 in the videosdatabase 519 b. Each new video may be assigned a VISD unique identifier(“UID”) that is unique for each video ingested into the VISD system.Third party video sources also often maintain a unique identifier foreach of the videos they host. Thus, when making a new entry in thevideos database 204 when a new video is ingested, a record of the thirdparty UID may be recorded in the database entry in connection with theVISD UID. As mentioned above, video locations may be limited to apredefined group of permissible sources. This group may be selected orlimited to only sources which maintain a third party UID accessible tothe VISD system. Accordingly, when a video is identified as having metthe ingest criteria, checking whether the video is new may entail simplychecking the videos database 519 b to see whether the potentially newvideo is already listed in the videos database by its third party UID.

It will be apparent that it may be the case that the same video couldmeet the ingest criteria but be located at different permissible thirdparty video locations. In this case, in order to eliminate duplicatevideos from the VISD system, a de-duplication process may be executed todisallow later-ingested copies of a video or may add the later-ingestedthird party video UIDs to the already existing corresponding video entryin the videos database 519 b.

At step 205, the third-party video locations, video reference sourcesand other information sources are polled for metadata about the ingestedvideos. This polling may be facilitated, for example, through the use ofan Application Programming Interface (“API”). Metadata is anyinformation about a video. Metadata may be obtained from many differentsources, including the site where the video is located, the source ofthe original reference to the video that caused the video to be ingestedand any other source that has information about the video.

Different third party video locations may maintain different types ofmetadata about videos. For example, metadata available to and ingestedby the VISD system for a YouTube video may include the title of thevideo; the uploader's description of the video; the YouTube UID; theYouTube category of the video; a YouTube channel ID if the video isfound in a YouTube channel; a thumbnail, screenshot or other assetrelated to the video; a publication date of the video; any YouTube tagsor keywords entered by the uploader; and analytics about the video suchas the number of likes, dislikes, favorites, views, and comments.

As another example, if a video was originally ingested due to areference on a Reddit site, step 205 may include obtaining metadata fromthe Reddit site that includes, for example, the title of the Reddit postin which the video was referenced that caused the video to be ingested,the number of comments on the referencing post, the number of up anddown votes for the referencing post, the time of the referencing post,etc. In addition to metadata about the referencing post itself, othermetadata may be collected from Reddit including, for example, the numberof all posts linking to the ingested video (in addition to the post thatcaused the video to be ingested), the collective number of comments onall posts referencing the video, the collective number of up and downvotes on all posts referencing the video, etc.

As yet another example, if a video was originally ingested due to areference in a Tweet, step 205 may include obtaining metadata fromTwitter including any hashtags that were trending and included in theTweet that caused the video to be ingested, other hashtags in thereferencing tweet, the number of retweets of the referencing Tweet, thetime of the referencing Tweet, etc. In addition to metadata about thereferencing Tweet itself, other metadata may be collected from Twitterincluding, for example, the number of all Tweets referencing theingested video (in addition to the Tweet that caused the video to beingested), the collective number of retweets of all Tweets referencingthe video, etc. Similar metadata may be obtained from Facebook forvideos ingested from Facebook or as a result of a referencing Facebookpost or page.

Any metadata retrieved in step 206 is compared to metadata existing inthe relevant entry of the videos database 519 b and any new metadata isadded to the relevant database entry 207. As another example, onlymetadata that is dated after the last time that a particular metadatasource was accessed for metadata may be added to the relevant databaseentry 207.

At step 208, the videos database 519 b may optionally be checked foroutdated videos and videos found to be outdated are culled from thedatabase or otherwise flagged in the database as being outdated. Forexample, circumstances that indicate a video is outdated may include ifa user tries to view the video and the video is no longer available fromits previous location, if the crawler component 542 attempts to searchfor new metadata about the video but finds that the video has beenremoved from its previous location, or if the video's ranking, describedbelow, falls below a predetermined threshold. When a video is flagged asoutdated, it may be removed from the videos database or, alternatively,videos that are outdated may be allowed to remain in the videos database519 b even after they become outdated. Once flagged as outdated, a videowill not be processed in the normal work flow and will not be providedto a user, however, keeping the outdated videos in the videos database519 b may provide the benefit that newly ingested reposts of old videosmay be detected as such as described above and processed accordingly.For example, if an outdated video is ingested as a repost, this maycause the outdated flag to be removed and the video to reenter thenormal work flow as described below.

Analysis and Moment Creation

Referring back to FIG. 1, when videos are ingested into the VISD system101, the content and comments about the videos are analyzed and“moments” are created based on that analysis 102. FIG. 3 shows anexemplary flow chart of a video analysis and moment creation process102. This work flow may be accomplished by, for example, an analysis andmoment creation component 543.

At step 301, entries from the videos database 519 b are fetched foranalysis. The entries may be fetched according to predefined criteria orbased on a predefined data-driven trigger. Alternatively, the analysis102 may occur continuously and entries may be fetched for analysis 301continuously, one after another. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, eachtime an entry in the videos database 519 b is analyzed, the entry isupdated 308. Part of that update process 308 may be to, for example, addor update information to the videos database entry regarding the lasttime that that entry was analyzed. Accordingly, an exemplary predefinedcriteria for determining which entry from the videos database 519 b tofetch at step 301 may be to fetch the entry that was analyzed thelongest time ago. In a similar example, entries in the videos database519 b may include an indication of the last time that new metadata wasingested for that video 207. In this example, the next video fetched tobe analyzed 301 may be the video that has new metadata since the lasttime the video was analyzed 102 and is the video with the most timeelapsed between when the new metadata was ingested 207 and when thevideo was last analyzed 102.

Once fetched, the VISD system searches for comments related to the videoidentified by the entry in the videos database 519 b in the video'smetadata. A video's metadata may be obtained and refreshed using thesame process as steps 205-207 described above or may be accomplished bya similar, but separate process. Examples of comments include, but arenot limited to, YouTube video comments, Reddit comments on a post,Tweets, Facebook posts, replies or pages, etc. Depending on the sourceof the video (YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), differentcomment sources may be searched. As described above, metadata for avideo may indicate the source that caused the video to be ingested(e.g., a YouTube channel, a Tweet, a Reddit or Facebook post) and mayalso indicate the location of the video itself (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo,Facebook). When searching for comments, the VISD system may beconfigured to search both the source that caused the video to beingested as well as the location of the video itself for comments aboutthe video. In the case that the source and location are the same, (e.g.YouTube), only comments there may be searched. Alternatively, commentsmay be searched from other predefined comment sources in addition to thesource that caused the video to be ingested and the location of thevideo itself. For example, if a video is referenced more than once atsources other than the source that caused the video to be ingested (asmay be recorded in the video database entry by a de-duplication process,for example, as described above), comments from those additional sourcesmay be searched as a part of step 302.

Optionally, comments may be evaluated 304 to determine whether they arenew comments—i.e. they have not been parsed for moments before. This maybe accomplished, for example, by storing records of comments in eachentry of the videos database 519 b.

At step 304, comments are parsed for “moments” according to predefinedmoments criteria. In one example, a moment criteria may be that a momentis identified if a comment includes a reference to a particular time inthe video to which the comment pertains. For example, parsing commentsaccording to such a moment criteria may be accomplished by examining thecomment for whether any portion of the comment matches the mask “X:XX”or “X.XX” where X is a digit. In another example, parsing commentsaccording to such a moment criteria may be accomplished by identifyingwhether a link to a YouTube video includes a “T=” parameter (i.e.https://youtu.be/YYYYYYY?t=15). In one example, a moment includes thecomment text together with a time referenced in the comment.

If a moment is found in a comment at step 305, the moment may optionallybe compared 307 to previously found moments. This may be done, forexample, by comparing the found moment to entries in the momentsdatabase 519 c. In one example, the time of a found moment is comparedto the times of all moment entries in the moments database 519 c for therelevant video and if a moment entry is found with the same time, or atime from a moment entry already in the database 519 c within apredefined window of the time of the found moment, the found moment maybe considered not new. In another example, the user name or ID, VISD UIDor third party UID of the relevant video, time, and comment text of aprospective moment may be compared to the same attributes of existingmoment entries in the moments database 519 c and if all attributesmatch, the prospective moment may be considered not new.

At step 306, an entry is made in the moments database 519 c for a foundmoment. Such an entry may include the VISD UID or third party UID of therelevant video, a time, a comment text, a source of the comment, a username or ID associated with the comment, a comment date, a number oflikes the comment received, a number of replies the comment received,etc. Optionally, a censoring process may be executed on any aspect ofthe moment or entry in the moments database 519 c to prevent the displayof vulgar or profane text.

As discussed above, when there are no more moments to be added to themoments database, the entry for the relevant video in the videosdatabase may be updated 308. Examples of the content of such an updatemay include the time that the moments analysis 102 was completed, thenumber of moments identified for the video, analytics about thepopularity of the moments such as the collective number of likes orreplies for all relevant moment entries in the moments database 519 c,etc.

Rating

For each video entry in the videos database 519 b, a rating process 103may be applied to create a video rating. FIG. 4 shows an exemplary flowchart of a rating process 103. This work flow may be accomplished by,for example, a rating component 544.

At step 401, entries from the videos database 519 b are fetched forrating. The entries may be fetched according to predefined criteria orbased on a predefined data-driven trigger. Alternatively, the rating 103may occur continuously and entries may be fetched for rating 401continuously, one after another. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, eachtime an entry in the videos database 519 b is rated, the entry isupdated 404. Part of that update process 404 may be to, for example, addor update information to the videos database entry regarding the lasttime that that entry was rated. Accordingly, an exemplary predefinedcriteria for determining which entry from the videos database 519 b tofetch at step 401 may be to fetch the entry that was rated the longesttime ago. In a similar example, entries in the videos database 519 b mayinclude an indication of the last time that new metadata was ingestedfor that video 207. In this example, the next video fetched to be rated401 may be the video that has new metadata since the last time the videowas rated 103 and is the video with the most time elapsed between whenthe new metadata was ingested 207 and when the video was last rated 103.

In the rating process 403, many different factors may be used todetermine a video's rating. Some of those factors may exist or may berecorded within the VISD system or VISD database. Others may need to beobtained (or refreshed) from sources outside the VISD system. At step402, outside information that may form a basis of the rating process 403is obtained from those outside sources.

The rating process 403 may be configured according to the particulargoals of the video delivery platform. For example, while the exemplaryrating process described herein is intended to achieve the goals ofpromoting new, highly discussed videos (among other goals), it is justone potential process configuration that may be used to rate videosaccording to the inventions described herein. For example, other goals(such as promoting “throwback” videos, videos that have held longacclaim, videos that have become popular in a particular geographicregion, etc.) may be achieved by alternative rating processconfigurations and parameters.

In an exemplary rating process, factors are each assigned a maximumnumerical score and a cumulative sum of all scored factors determines avideo's rating. Factors may include, for example, the original publisheddate of the video (for example, the date it was first published onYouTube), factors related to the source which originally caused thevideo to be ingested or the location of the video, the date that thevideo was first ingested by the VISD system, feedback from VISD systemusers and factors related to the moments identified for a video. Avideo's rating may also be made unique to each user of the VISD systemby introducing a rating factor that is based on the user's activity orpreferences.

In an example in which the original published date of a video isconfigured as a rating factor, a maximum possible score may be assignedfor this factor if the video was published less than a predeterminedamount of time ago. For example, a maximum score may be awarded if thevideo was first published less than 12 hours ago. As time passes fromthat threshold, the score for this factor may be decreased. In oneexample, the decrease may resample an exponential or logarithmic decayfunction. An example of such a decay function is shown in FIG. 6. Decayfunctions may be applied to any rating factor or sub-factor where timeplays a role and it is desired to place an emphasis on recent-ness ofvideos.

Rating factors may also be related to the source which originally causedthe video to be ingested or the location of the video. Such informationmay be retrieved in step 402. For example, the number of views of avideo at the video location, the number of likes of the video at thevideo location, and the number of comments on the video at the videolocation may each be configured as rating sub-factors. Each sub-factormay be assigned a portion of the factor's maximum score. As one example,the number of likes of the video at the video location may account for athird of the original source rating factor and may be calculated on alinear or other scale based on the number of likes the video receivedcompared to a threshold. For example, if a video gets 10,000 likes atYouTube, it may earn the maximum sub-factor score, whereas a video withonly 5,000 likes may earn half of the maximum sub-factor score. In thisexample, likes beyond 10,000 would not add to the video's rating.Similar interpolations may be applied to other sub-factors or factors.

In an example in which the date that the video was first ingested by theVISD system is configured as a rating factor, a maximum possible scoremay be assigned for this factor if the video was ingested less than apredetermined amount of time ago and the score may decay as describedabove with respect to the original published date.

Feedback from VISD system users may also be included in the ratingprocess 403. For example, as described above with respect to the sourcewhich originally caused the video to be ingested or the location of thevideo, the VISD system may also provide for user interaction in whichusers comment, like, view or otherwise interact with the videos in theVISD system. Such interactivity (or sub-elements thereof such ascomments, likes and views) may be used as sub-factors in determining avideo's rating. As described below, such interactivity may be recordedas events in a user activity database 519 f and this user activitydatabase 519 f may be queried as a part of the video rating process 403.

A video's rating may also be based in part on factors related to themoments identified for a video. For example, the number of moments maybe used as a basis for calculating a moments factor score much in thesame way described above with respect to the number of YouTube likes.

A video's rating may also be made unique to each user of the VISD systemby introducing a rating factor that is based on the user's activity orpreferences. As described above, the VISD system may allow forinteractivity by users. Examples of such interactivity include allowingusers to like, comment and view videos within the VISD system. The useractivity database 519 f may be configured to record events of suchinteractivity by recording the event type (like, view, etc.), the eventtime, the video VISD UID or third party UID, the VISD user ID(corresponding to an entry in the user database 519 e), a moment ID(corresponding to an entry in the moments database 519 c), and/or achannel ID of a VISD channel from which the video was viewed. Entries inthe user database 519 e or the user activity database 519 f may alsoinclude tags or keywords associated with videos a user likes. Asdescribed above, such tags or keywords may be acquired as metadata fromthird party sources as a part of the video ingest process. Entries inthe user database 519 e or the user activity database 519 f may alsoinclude information indicating search parameters received from the userand videos delivered to the user.

For determining a user's personalized video rating factor score withrespect to a particular video, any of such interactivity data tied to auser may be used. As one example, a user's personalized video ratingfactor score with respect to a particular video may be calculated basedon the number of matches between tags or keywords associated with thevideo being ranked and the tags and keywords associated with videos thatthe user has liked before in the VISD system. In another example, auser's personalized video rating factor score with respect to aparticular video may be calculated based on the number of matchesbetween a video category (obtained from metadata from the video'ssource) associated with the video being ranked and the video category(obtained from metadata from the video's source) associated with videosthat the user has liked before in the VISD system. Of course, thiscalculation may be configured to take time into account and emphasize orexclusively use interactivity events that have occurred recently.

Filter/Search and Delivery

As shown in FIG. 1, once a video is ingested 101, analyzed 102, andrated 103, it is ready for filtering and searching 104. This work flowmay be accomplished by, for example, a search and filtering component546 and a delivery component 546. Various attributes from the VISDdatabases may be indexed for searching by a user or for filtering tocompile VISD channels. In one example, indexed attributes include thetext of moments from the moments database 519 c, the VISD channelassociated with the video, and the title, description, and category ofvideos from the metadata in the videos database 519 b. Indexing andsearch processes may be performed outside of the VISD system by a thirdparty provider such as Algolia.

A search process may be configured to search the various databases in apreconfigured order. Also, search results may be displayed in apreconfigured order. For example, search results may be displayed firstsorted by class (such as by displaying videos and moments separately)and then ordered by rating and then (or alternatively) ordered by timeof the moment or time of publication of a video, for example. The orderin which the search results are returned may dictate the order in whichvideos are delivered to a user.

Search results or the entire video and moments libraries may be filteredor faceted according to any of the attributes described herein. Forexample, videos and moments may be filtered based on the source of thevideo (YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), whether the item is amoment or a video, the video category or associated keywords (obtainedfrom metadata from the video's source or location), VISD channelassociated with the video, and the text of moments.

VISD channels may be established by users or may be preconfigured in theVISD system. Users may establish their own VISD channels simply bysaving the search parameters for a search (as described above) andreapplying them any time the personalized VISD channel is recalled.Preconfigured VISD channels may also be established by saving predefinedsearches or may also be defined based on third party metadata, such as avideo's category as defined by the video's source or location. VISDchannels may be configured to appear to the user as an ordered list ofvideos, the order of the videos being determined by the order in whichthe video search results are returned. When a user elects to play a VISDchannel or videos returned as a result of a search, videos may bedelivered one after the other in the order in which the video searchresults are returned.

Ultimately, videos are delivered to a user 105 based on their searchparameters or VISD channel selection. As described above, users'activity, including their searches and videos delivered to the user, maybe tracked by creating entries in the user 519 e and user activity 519 fdatabases. Moments may be displayed along with or over top of videos.Moments may be dynamically displayed and hidden based on theirassociated timestamp and the progression of the video being delivered ata given point in time so that the text of a moment is displayed at thetime of the moment as the video is being delivered.

It should be noted that the entire workflow depicted in FIG. 1 may beconfigured as a re-iterative workflow and may be continuously andasynchronously executed. For example, videos may be being rated 103 atthe same time others are being ingested 101. Likewise, videos may beingested 101 at fixed time intervals or continuously.

VISD Controller

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram illustrating embodiments of a VISDcontroller. In this embodiment, the VISD controller 501 may serve toaggregate, process, store, search, serve, identify, instruct, generate,match, and/or facilitate interactions with a computer, and/or otherrelated data.

Typically, users, which may be people and/or other systems, may engageinformation technology systems (e.g., computers) to facilitateinformation processing. In turn, computers employ processors to processinformation; such processors 503 may be referred to as centralprocessing units (CPU). One form of processor is referred to as amicroprocessor. CPUs use communicative circuits to pass binary encodedsignals acting as instructions to enable various operations. Theseinstructions may be operational and/or data instructions containingand/or referencing other instructions and data in various processoraccessible and operable areas of memory 529 (e.g., registers, cachememory, random access memory, etc.). Such communicative instructions maybe stored and/or transmitted in batches (e.g., batches of instructions)as programs and/or data components to facilitate desired operations.These stored instruction codes, e.g., programs, may engage the CPUcircuit components and other motherboard and/or system components toperform desired operations. One type of program is a computer operatingsystem, which, may be executed by CPU on a computer; the operatingsystem enables and facilitates users to access and operate computerinformation technology and resources. Some resources that may beemployed in information technology systems include: input and outputmechanisms through which data may pass into and out of a computer;memory storage into which data may be saved; and processors by whichinformation may be processed. These information technology systems maybe used to collect data for later retrieval, analysis, and manipulation,which may be facilitated through a database program. These informationtechnology systems provide interfaces that allow users to access andoperate various system components.

In one embodiment, the VISD controller 501 may be connected to and/orcommunicate with entities such as, but not limited to: one or more usersfrom user input devices 511; peripheral devices 512; an optionalcryptographic processor device 528; and/or a communications network 513.

Networks are commonly thought to comprise the interconnection andinteroperation of clients, servers, and intermediary nodes in a graphtopology. It should be noted that the term “server” as used throughoutthis application refers generally to a computer, other device, program,or combination thereof that processes and responds to the requests ofremote users across a communications network. Servers serve theirinformation to requesting “clients.” The term “client” as used hereinrefers generally to a computer, program, other device, user and/orcombination thereof that is capable of processing and making requestsand obtaining and processing any responses from servers across acommunications network. A computer, other device, program, orcombination thereof that facilitates, processes information andrequests, and/or furthers the passage of information from a source userto a destination user is commonly referred to as a “node.” Networks aregenerally thought to facilitate the transfer of information from sourcepoints to destinations. A node specifically tasked with furthering thepassage of information from a source to a destination is commonly calleda “router.” There are many forms of networks such as Local Area Networks(LANs), Pico networks, Wide Area Networks (WANs), Wireless Networks(WLANs), etc. For example, the Internet is generally accepted as beingan interconnection of a multitude of networks whereby remote clients andservers may access and interoperate with one another.

The VISD controller 501 may be based on computer systems that maycomprise, but are not limited to, components such as: a computersystemization 502 connected to memory 529.

Computer Systemization

A computer systemization 502 may comprise a clock 530, centralprocessing unit (“CPU(s)” and/or “processor(s)” (these terms are usedinterchangeable throughout the disclosure unless noted to the contrary))503, a memory 529 (e.g., a read only memory (ROM) 506, a random accessmemory (RAM) 505, etc.), and/or an interface bus 507, and mostfrequently, although not necessarily, are all interconnected and/orcommunicating through a system bus 504 on one or more (mother)board(s)502 having conductive and/or otherwise transportive circuit pathwaysthrough which instructions (e.g., binary encoded signals) may travel toeffectuate communications, operations, storage, etc. The computersystemization may be connected to a power source 586; e.g., optionallythe power source may be internal. Optionally, a cryptographic processor526 and/or transceivers (e.g., ICs) 574 may be connected to the systembus. In another embodiment, the cryptographic processor and/ortransceivers may be connected as either internal and/or externalperipheral devices 512 via the interface bus I/O. In turn, thetransceivers may be connected to antenna(s) 575, thereby effectuatingwireless transmission and reception of various communication and/orsensor protocols; for example the antenna(s) may connect to: a TexasInstruments WiLink WL1283 transceiver chip (e.g., providing 802.11n,Bluetooth 3.0, FM, global positioning system (GPS) (thereby allowingVISD controller to determine its location)); Broadcom BCM4329FKUBGtransceiver chip (e.g., providing 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, FM, etc.);a Broadcom BCM4750IUB8 receiver chip (e.g., GPS); an InfineonTechnologies X-Gold 618-PMB9800 (e.g., providing 2G/3G HSDPA/HSUPAcommunications); and/or the like. The system clock typically has acrystal oscillator and generates a base signal through the computersystemization's circuit pathways. The clock is typically coupled to thesystem bus and various clock multipliers that will increase or decreasethe base operating frequency for other components interconnected in thecomputer systemization. The clock and various components in a computersystemization drive signals embodying information throughout the system.Such transmission and reception of instructions embodying informationthroughout a computer systemization may be commonly referred to ascommunications. These communicative instructions may further betransmitted, received, and the cause of return and/or replycommunications beyond the instant computer systemization to:communications networks, input devices, other computer systemizations,peripheral devices, and/or the like. It should be understood that inalternative embodiments, any of the above components may be connecteddirectly to one another, connected to the CPU, and/or organized innumerous variations employed as exemplified by various computer systems.

The CPU comprises at least one high-speed data processor adequate toexecute program components for executing user and/or system-generatedrequests. Often, the processors themselves will incorporate variousspecialized processing units, such as, but not limited to: integratedsystem (bus) controllers, memory management control units, floatingpoint units, and even specialized processing sub-units like graphicsprocessing units, digital signal processing units, and/or the like.Additionally, processors may include internal fast access addressablememory, and be capable of mapping and addressing memory 529 beyond theprocessor itself; internal memory may include, but is not limited to:fast registers, various levels of cache memory (e.g., level 1, 2, 3,etc.), RAM, etc. The processor may access this memory through the use ofa memory address space that is accessible via instruction address, whichthe processor can construct and decode allowing it to access a circuitpath to a specific memory address space having a memory state. The CPUmay be a microprocessor such as: AMD's Athlon, Duron and/or Opteron;ARM's application, embedded and secure processors; IBM and/or Motorola'sDragonBall and PowerPC; IBM's and Sony's Cell processor; Intel'sCeleron, Core (2) Duo, Itanium, Pentium, Xeon, and/or XScale; and/or thelike processor(s). The CPU interacts with memory through instructionpassing through conductive and/or transportive conduits (e.g., (printed)electronic and/or optic circuits) to execute stored instructions (i.e.,program code) according to conventional data processing techniques. Suchinstruction passing facilitates communication within the VISD controllerand beyond through various interfaces. Should processing requirementsdictate a greater amount speed and/or capacity, distributed processors(e.g., Distributed VISD), mainframe, multi-core, parallel, and/orsuper-computer architectures may similarly be employed. Alternatively,should deployment requirements dictate greater portability, smallerPersonal Digital Assistants (PDAs) may be employed.

Depending on the particular implementation, features of the VISD may beachieved by implementing a microcontroller such as CAST's R8051XC2microcontroller; Intel's MCS 51 (i.e., 8051 microcontroller); and/or thelike. Also, to implement certain features of the VISD, some featureimplementations may rely on embedded components, such as:Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (“ASIC”), Digital SignalProcessing (“DSP”), Field Programmable Gate Array (“FPGA”), and/or thelike embedded technology. For example, any of the VISD componentcollection (distributed or otherwise) and/or features may be implementedvia the microprocessor and/or via embedded components; e.g., via ASIC,coprocessor, DSP, FPGA, and/or the like. Alternately, someimplementations of the VISD may be implemented with embedded componentsthat are configured and used to achieve a variety of features or signalprocessing.

Depending on the particular implementation, the embedded components mayinclude software solutions, hardware solutions, and/or some combinationof both hardware/software solutions. For example, VISD featuresdiscussed herein may be achieved through implementing FPGAs, which are asemiconductor devices containing programmable logic components called“logic blocks”, and programmable interconnects, such as the highperformance FPGA Virtex series and/or the low cost Spartan seriesmanufactured by Xilinx. Logic blocks and interconnects can be programmedby the customer or designer, after the FPGA is manufactured, toimplement any of the VISD features. A hierarchy of programmableinterconnects allow logic blocks to be interconnected as needed by theVISD system designer/administrator, somewhat like a one-chipprogrammable breadboard. An FPGA's logic blocks can be programmed toperform the operation of basic logic gates such as AND, and XOR, or morecomplex combinational operators such as decoders or mathematicaloperations. In most FPGAs, the logic blocks also include memoryelements, which may be circuit flip-flops or more complete blocks ofmemory. In some circumstances, the VISD may be developed on regularFPGAs and then migrated into a fixed version that more resembles ASICimplementations. Alternate or coordinating implementations may migrateVISD controller features to a final ASIC instead of or in addition toFPGAs. Depending on the implementation all of the aforementionedembedded components and microprocessors may be considered the “CPU”and/or “processor” for the VISD.

Power Source

The power source 586 may be of any standard form for powering smallelectronic circuit board devices such as the following power cells:alkaline, lithium hydride, lithium ion, lithium polymer, nickel cadmium,solar cells, and/or the like. Other types of AC or DC power sources maybe used as well. In the case of solar cells, in one embodiment, the caseprovides an aperture through which the solar cell may capture photonicenergy. The power cell 586 is connected to at least one of theinterconnected subsequent components of the VISD thereby providing anelectric current to all subsequent components. In one example, the powersource 586 is connected to the system bus component 504. In analternative embodiment, an outside power source 586 is provided througha connection across the I/O 508 interface. For example, a USB and/orIEEE 1394 connection carries both data and power across the connectionand is therefore a suitable source of power.

Interface Adapters

Interface bus(ses) 507 may accept, connect, and/or communicate to anumber of interface adapters, conventionally although not necessarily inthe form of adapter cards, such as but not limited to: input outputinterfaces (I/O) 508, storage interfaces 509, network interfaces 510,and/or the like. Optionally, cryptographic processor interfaces 527similarly may be connected to the interface bus. The interface busprovides for the communications of interface adapters with one anotheras well as with other components of the computer systemization.Interface adapters are adapted for a compatible interface bus. Interfaceadapters conventionally connect to the interface bus via a slotarchitecture. Conventional slot architectures may be employed, such as,but not limited to: Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), Card Bus,(Extended) Industry Standard Architecture ((E)ISA), Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA), NuBus, Peripheral Component Interconnect (Extended)(PCI(X)), PCI Express, Personal Computer Memory Card InternationalAssociation (PCMCIA), and/or the like.

Storage interfaces 509 may accept, communicate, and/or connect to anumber of storage devices such as, but not limited to: storage devices514, removable disc devices, and/or the like. Storage interfaces mayemploy connection protocols such as, but not limited to: (Ultra)(Serial) Advanced Technology Attachment (Packet Interface) ((Ultra)(Serial) ATA(PI)), (Enhanced) Integrated Drive Electronics ((E)IDE),Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394, fiberchannel, Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI), Universal Serial Bus(USB), and/or the like.

Network interfaces 510 may accept, communicate, and/or connect to acommunications network 513. Through a communications network 513, theVISD controller is accessible through remote clients 533 b (e.g.,computers with web browsers) by users 533 a. Network interfaces mayemploy connection protocols such as, but not limited to: direct connect,Ethernet (thick, thin, twisted pair 10/100/1000 Base T, and/or thelike), Token Ring, wireless connection such as IEEE 802.11a-x, and/orthe like. Should processing requirements dictate a greater amount speedand/or capacity, distributed network controllers (e.g., DistributedVISD), architectures may similarly be employed to pool, load balance,and/or otherwise increase the communicative bandwidth required by theVISD controller. A communications network may be any one and/or thecombination of the following: a direct interconnection; the Internet; aLocal Area Network (LAN); a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN); anOperating Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI); a secured customconnection; a Wide Area Network (WAN); a wireless network (e.g.,employing protocols such as, but not limited to a Wireless ApplicationProtocol (WAP), I-mode, and/or the like); and/or the like. A networkinterface may be regarded as a specialized form of an input outputinterface. Further, multiple network interfaces 510 may be used toengage with various communications network types 513. For example,multiple network interfaces may be employed to allow for thecommunication over broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast networks.

Input Output interfaces (I/O) 508 may accept, communicate, and/orconnect to user input devices 511, peripheral devices 512, cryptographicprocessor devices 528, and/or the like. I/O may employ connectionprotocols such as, but not limited to: audio: analog, digital, monaural,RCA, stereo, and/or the like; data: Apple Desktop Bus (ADB), IEEE1394a-b, serial, universal serial bus (USB); infrared; joystick;keyboard; midi; optical; PC AT; PS/2; parallel; radio; video interface:Apple Desktop Connector (ADC), BNC, coaxial, component, composite,digital, Digital Visual Interface (DVI), high-definition multimediainterface (HDMI), RCA, RF antennae, S-Video, VGA, and/or the like;wireless transceivers: 802.11a/b/g/n/x; Bluetooth; cellular (e.g., codedivision multiple access (CDMA), high speed packet access (HSPA(+)),high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), long term evolution (LTE), WiMax, etc.); and/orthe like. One typical output device may include a video display, whichtypically comprises a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) or Liquid Crystal Display(LCD) based monitor with an interface (e.g., DVI circuitry and cable)that accepts signals from a video interface, may be used. The videointerface composites information generated by a computer systemizationand generates video signals based on the composited information in avideo memory frame. Another output device is a television set, whichaccepts signals from a video interface. Typically, the video interfaceprovides the composited video information through a video connectioninterface that accepts a video display interface (e.g., an RCA compositevideo connector accepting an RCA composite video cable; a DVI connectoraccepting a DVI display cable, etc.).

User input devices 511 often are a type of peripheral device 512 (seebelow) and may include: card readers, dongles, finger print readers,gloves, graphics tablets, joysticks, keyboards, microphones, mouse(mice), remote controls, retina readers, touch screens (e.g.,capacitive, resistive, etc.), trackballs, trackpads, sensors (e.g.,accelerometers, ambient light, GPS, gyroscopes, proximity, etc.),styluses, and/or the like.

Peripheral devices 512 may be connected and/or communicate to I/O and/orother facilities of the like such as network interfaces, storageinterfaces, directly to the interface bus, system bus, the CPU, and/orthe like. Peripheral devices may be external, internal and/or part ofthe VISD controller. Peripheral devices may include: antenna, audiodevices (e.g., line-in, line-out, microphone input, speakers, etc.),cameras (e.g., still, video, webcam, etc.), dongles (e.g., for copyprotection, ensuring secure transactions with a digital signature,and/or the like), external processors (for added capabilities; e.g.,crypto devices 528), force-feedback devices (e.g., vibrating motors),network interfaces, printers, scanners, storage devices, transceivers(e.g., cellular, GPS, etc.), video devices (e.g., goggles, monitors,etc.), video sources, visors, and/or the like. Peripheral devices ofteninclude types of input devices (e.g., cameras).

It should be noted that although user input devices and peripheraldevices may be employed, the VISD controller may be embodied as anembedded, dedicated, and/or monitor-less (i.e., headless) device,wherein access would be provided over a network interface connection.

Cryptographic units such as, but not limited to, microcontrollers,processors 526, interfaces 527, and/or devices 528 may be attached,and/or communicate with the VISD controller. A MC68HC16 microcontroller,manufactured by Motorola Inc., may be used for and/or withincryptographic units. The MC68HC16 microcontroller utilizes a 16-bitmultiply-and-accumulate instruction in the 16 MHz configuration andrequires less than one second to perform a 512-bit RSA private keyoperation. Cryptographic units support the authentication ofcommunications from interacting agents, as well as allowing foranonymous transactions. Cryptographic units may also be configured aspart of the CPU. Equivalent microcontrollers and/or processors may alsobe used. Other commercially available specialized cryptographicprocessors include: Broadcom's CryptoNetX and other Security Processors;nCipher's nShield; SafeNet's Luna PCI (e.g., 7100) series; SemaphoreCommunications' 40 MHz Roadrunner 184; Sun's Cryptographic Accelerators(e.g., Accelerator 6000 PCIe Board, Accelerator 500 Daughtercard); ViaNano Processor (e.g., L2100, L2200, U2400) line, which is capable ofperforming 500+MB/s of cryptographic instructions; VLSI Technology's 33MHz 6868; and/or the like.

Memory

Generally, any mechanization and/or embodiment allowing a processor toaffect the storage and/or retrieval of information is regarded as memory529. However, memory is a fungible technology and resource, thus, anynumber of memory embodiments may be employed in lieu of or in concertwith one another. It is to be understood that the VISD controller and/ora computer systemization may employ various forms of memory 529. Forexample, a computer systemization may be configured wherein theoperation of on-chip CPU memory (e.g., registers), RAM, ROM, and anyother storage devices are provided by a paper punch tape or paper punchcard mechanism; however, such an embodiment would result in an extremelyslow rate of operation. In a typical configuration, memory 529 willinclude ROM 506, RAM 505, and a storage device 514. A storage device 514may be any conventional computer system storage. Storage devices mayinclude a drum; a (fixed and/or removable) magnetic disk drive; amagneto-optical drive; an optical drive (i.e., Blueray, CDROM/RAM/Recordable (R)/ReWritable (RW), DVD R/RW, HD DVD R/RW etc.); anarray of devices (e.g., Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID));solid state memory devices (USB memory, solid state drives (SSD), etc.);other processor-readable storage mediums; and/or other devices of thelike. Thus, a computer systemization generally requires and makes use ofmemory.

Component Collection

The memory 529 may contain a collection of program and/or databasecomponents and/or data such as, but not limited to: operating systemcomponent(s) 515 (operating system); information server component(s) 516(information server); user interface component(s) 517 (user interface);Web browser component(s) 518 (Web browser); database(s) 519; mail servercomponent(s) 521; mail client component(s) 522; cryptographic servercomponent(s) 520 (cryptographic server); the VISD component(s) 535; theingest component 541; the crawler component 542, the analysis/momentcreation component 543; the rating component 544; the search/filteringcomponent 545; the delivery component 546; and/or the like (i.e.,collectively a component collection). These components may be stored andaccessed from the storage devices and/or from storage devices accessiblethrough an interface bus. Although non-conventional program componentssuch as those in the component collection, typically, are stored in alocal storage device 514, they may also be loaded and/or stored inmemory such as: peripheral devices, RAM, remote storage facilitiesthrough a communications network, ROM, various forms of memory, and/orthe like. Also, while the components are described separately herein, itwill be understood that they may be combined and/or subdivided in anycompatible manner.

Operating System

The operating system component 515 is an executable program componentfacilitating the operation of the VISD controller. Typically, theoperating system facilitates access of I/O, network interfaces,peripheral devices, storage devices, and/or the like. The operatingsystem may be a highly fault tolerant, scalable, and secure system suchas: Apple Macintosh OS X (Server); AT&T Plan 9; Be OS; Unix andUnix-like system distributions (such as AT&T's UNIX; Berkley SoftwareDistribution (BSD) variations such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and/orthe like; Linux distributions such as Red Hat, Ubuntu, and/or the like);and/or the like operating systems. However, more limited and/or lesssecure operating systems also may be employed such as Apple MacintoshOS, IBM OS/2, Microsoft DOS, Microsoft Windows2000/2003/3.1/95/98/CE/Millenium/NT/Vista/XP (Server), Palm OS, and/orthe like. An operating system may communicate to and/or with othercomponents in a component collection, including itself, and/or the like.Most frequently, the operating system communicates with other programcomponents, user interfaces, and/or the like. For example, the operatingsystem may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provideprogram component, system, user, and/or data communications, requests,and/or responses. The operating system, once executed by the CPU, mayenable the interaction with communications networks, data, I/O,peripheral devices, program components, memory, user input devices,and/or the like. The operating system may provide communicationsprotocols that allow the VISD controller to communicate with otherentities through a communications network 513. Various communicationprotocols may be used by the VISD controller as a subcarrier transportmechanism for interaction, such as, but not limited to: multicast,TCP/IP, UDP, unicast, and/or the like.

Information Server

An information server component 516 is a stored program component thatis executed by a CPU. The information server may be a conventionalInternet information server such as, but not limited to Apache SoftwareFoundation's Apache, Microsoft's Internet Information Server, and/or thelike. The information server may allow for the execution of programcomponents through facilities such as Active Server Page (ASP), ActiveX,(ANSI) (Objective-) C (++), C# and/or .NET, Common Gateway Interface(CGI) scripts, dynamic (D) hypertext markup language (HTML), FLASH,Java, JavaScript, Practical Extraction Report Language (PERL), HypertextPre-Processor (PHP), pipes, Python, wireless application protocol (WAP),WebObjects, and/or the like. The information server may support securecommunications protocols such as, but not limited to, File TransferProtocol (FTP); HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP); Secure HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTPS), Secure Socket Layer (SSL), messagingprotocols (e.g., America Online (AOL) Instant Messenger (AIM),Application Exchange (APEX), ICQ, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), MicrosoftNetwork (MSN) Messenger Service, Presence and Instant Messaging Protocol(PRIM), Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF's) Session InitiationProtocol (SIP), SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence LeveragingExtensions (SIMPLE), open XML-based Extensible Messaging and PresenceProtocol (XMPP) (i.e., Jabber or Open Mobile Alliance's (OMA's) InstantMessaging and Presence Service (IMPS)), Yahoo! Instant MessengerService, and/or the like. The information server provides results in theform of Web pages to Web browsers, and allows for the manipulatedgeneration of the Web pages through interaction with other programcomponents. After a Domain Name System (DNS) resolution portion of anHTTP request is resolved to a particular information server, theinformation server resolves requests for information at specifiedlocations on the VISD controller based on the remainder of the HTTPrequest. For example, a request such ashttp://123.124.125.126/myInformation.html might have the IP portion ofthe request “123.124.125.126” resolved by a DNS server to an informationserver at that IP address; that information server might in turn furtherparse the http request for the “/myInformation.html” portion of therequest and resolve it to a location in memory containing theinformation “myInformation.html.” Additionally, other informationserving protocols may be employed across various ports, e.g., FTPcommunications across port 21, and/or the like. An information servermay communicate to and/or with other components in a componentcollection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Mostfrequently, the information server communicates with the VISD databases519, operating systems, other program components, user interfaces, Webbrowsers, and/or the like.

Access to the VISD database may be achieved through a number of databasebridge mechanisms such as through scripting languages as enumeratedbelow (e.g., CGI) and through inter-application communication channelsas enumerated below (e.g., CORBA, WebObjects, etc.). Any data requeststhrough a Web browser are parsed through the bridge mechanism intoappropriate grammars as required by the VISD. In one embodiment, theinformation server would provide a Web form accessible by a Web browser.Entries made into supplied fields in the Web form are tagged as havingbeen entered into the particular fields, and parsed as such. The enteredterms are then passed along with the field tags, which act to instructthe parser to generate queries directed to appropriate tables and/orfields. In one embodiment, the parser may generate queries in standardSQL by instantiating a search string with the proper join/selectcommands based on the tagged text entries, wherein the resulting commandis provided over the bridge mechanism to the VISD as a query. Upongenerating query results from the query, the results are passed over thebridge mechanism, and may be parsed for formatting and generation of anew results Web page by the bridge mechanism. Such a new results Webpage is then provided to the information server, which may supply it tothe requesting Web browser.

Also, an information server may contain, communicate, generate, obtain,and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or datacommunications, requests, and/or responses.

User Interface

Computer interfaces in some respects are similar to automobile operationinterfaces. Automobile operation interface elements such as steeringwheels, gearshifts, and speedometers facilitate the access, operation,and display of automobile resources, and status. Computer interactioninterface elements such as check boxes, cursors, menus, scrollers, andwindows (collectively and commonly referred to as widgets) similarlyfacilitate the access, capabilities, operation, and display of data andcomputer hardware and operating system resources, and status. Operationinterfaces are commonly called user interfaces. Graphical userinterfaces (GUIs) such as the Apple Macintosh Operating System's Aqua,IBM's OS/2, Microsoft's Windows2000/2003/3.1/95/98/CE/Millenium/NT/XP/Vista/7 (i.e., Aero), Unix'sX-Windows (e.g., which may include additional Unix graphic interfacelibraries and layers such as K Desktop Environment (KDE), mythTV and GNUNetwork Object Model Environment (GNOME)), web interface libraries(e.g., ActiveX, AJAX, (D)HTML, FLASH, Java, JavaScript, etc. interfacelibraries such as, but not limited to, Dojo, jQuery(UI), MooTools,Prototype, script.aculo.us, SWFObject, Yahoo! User Interface, any ofwhich may be used and) provide a baseline and means of accessing anddisplaying information graphically to users.

A user interface component 517 is a stored program component that isexecuted by a CPU. The user interface may be a conventional graphic userinterface as provided by, with, and/or atop operating systems and/oroperating environments such as already discussed. The user interface mayallow for the display, execution, interaction, manipulation, and/oroperation of program components and/or system facilities through textualand/or graphical facilities. The user interface provides a facilitythrough which users may affect, interact, and/or operate a computersystem. A user interface may communicate to and/or with other componentsin a component collection, including itself, and/or facilities of thelike. Most frequently, the user interface communicates with operatingsystems, other program components, and/or the like. The user interfacemay contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide programcomponent, system, user, and/or data communications, requests, and/orresponses.

Web Browser

A Web browser component 518 is a stored program component that isexecuted by a CPU. The Web browser may be a conventional hypertextviewing application such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or NetscapeNavigator. Secure Web browsing may be supplied with 128 bit (or greater)encryption by way of HTTPS, SSL, and/or the like. Web browsers allowingfor the execution of program components through facilities such asActiveX, AJAX, (D)HTML, FLASH, Java, JavaScript, web browser plug-inAPIs (e.g., FireFox, Safari Plug-in, and/or the like APIs), and/or thelike. Web browsers and like information access tools may be integratedinto PDAs, cellular telephones, and/or other mobile devices. A Webbrowser may communicate to and/or with other components in a componentcollection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Mostfrequently, the Web browser communicates with information servers,operating systems, integrated program components (e.g., plug-ins),and/or the like; e.g., it may contain, communicate, generate, obtain,and/or provide program component, system, user, and/or datacommunications, requests, and/or responses. Also, in place of a Webbrowser and information server, a combined application may be developedto perform similar operations of both. The combined application wouldsimilarly affect the obtaining and the provision of information tousers, user agents, and/or the like from the VISD enabled nodes. Thecombined application may be nugatory on systems employing standard Webbrowsers.

Mail Server

A mail server component 521 is a stored program component that isexecuted by a CPU 503. The mail server may be a conventional Internetmail server such as, but not limited to sendmail, Microsoft Exchange,and/or the like. The mail server may allow for the execution of programcomponents through facilities such as ASP, ActiveX, (ANSI) (Objective-)C (++), C# and/or .NET, CGI scripts, Java, JavaScript, PERL, PHP, pipes,Python, WebObjects, and/or the like. The mail server may supportcommunications protocols such as, but not limited to: Internet messageaccess protocol (IMAP), Messaging Application Programming Interface(MAPI)/Microsoft Exchange, post office protocol (POP3), simple mailtransfer protocol (SMTP), and/or the like. The mail server can route,forward, and process incoming and outgoing mail messages that have beensent, relayed and/or otherwise traversing through and/or to the VISD.Mail may also take the form of messages sent from one VISD user toanother that is not in the form of traditional email but is more akin todirect messaging or the like conventionally enabled by social networks.

Access to the VISD mail may be achieved through a number of APIs offeredby the individual Web server components and/or the operating system.

Also, a mail server may contain, communicate, generate, obtain, and/orprovide program component, system, user, and/or data communications,requests, information, and/or responses.

Mail Client

A mail client component 522 is a stored program component that isexecuted by a CPU 503. The mail client may be a conventional mailviewing application such as Apple Mail, Microsoft Entourage, MicrosoftOutlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Mozilla, Thunderbird, and/or thelike. Mail clients may support a number of transfer protocols, such as:IMAP, Microsoft Exchange, POP3, SMTP, and/or the like. A mail client maycommunicate to and/or with other components in a component collection,including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Most frequently, themail client communicates with mail servers, operating systems, othermail clients, and/or the like; e.g., it may contain, communicate,generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/ordata communications, requests, information, and/or responses. Generally,the mail client provides a facility to compose and transmit electronicmail messages.

Cryptographic Server

A cryptographic server component 520 is a stored program component thatis executed by a CPU 503, cryptographic processor 526, cryptographicprocessor interface 527, cryptographic processor device 528, and/or thelike. Cryptographic processor interfaces will allow for expedition ofencryption and/or decryption requests by the cryptographic component;however, the cryptographic component, alternatively, may run on aconventional CPU. The cryptographic component allows for the encryptionand/or decryption of provided data. The cryptographic component allowsfor both symmetric and asymmetric (e.g., Pretty Good Protection (PGP))encryption and/or decryption. The cryptographic component may employcryptographic techniques such as, but not limited to: digitalcertificates (e.g., X.509 authentication framework), digital signatures,dual signatures, enveloping, password access protection, public keymanagement, and/or the like. The cryptographic component will facilitatenumerous (encryption and/or decryption) security protocols such as, butnot limited to: checksum, Data Encryption Standard (DES), EllipticalCurve Encryption (ECC), International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA),Message Digest 5 (MD5, which is a one way hash operation), passwords,Rivest Cipher (RC5), Rijndael, RSA (which is an Internet encryption andauthentication system that uses an algorithm developed in 1977 by RonRivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman), Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA),Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS),and/or the like. Employing such encryption security protocols, the VISDmay encrypt all incoming and/or outgoing communications and may serve asnode within a virtual private network (VPN) with a wider communicationsnetwork. The cryptographic component facilitates the process of“security authorization” whereby access to a resource is inhibited by asecurity protocol wherein the cryptographic component effects authorizedaccess to the secured resource. In addition, the cryptographic componentmay provide unique identifiers of content, e.g., employing and MD5 hashto obtain a unique signature for a digital audio file. A cryptographiccomponent may communicate to and/or with other components in a componentcollection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Thecryptographic component supports encryption schemes allowing for thesecure transmission of information across a communications network toenable the VISD component to engage in secure transactions if sodesired. The cryptographic component facilitates the secure accessing ofresources on the VISD and facilitates the access of secured resources onremote systems; i.e., it may act as a client and/or server of securedresources. Most frequently, the cryptographic component communicateswith information servers, operating systems, other program components,and/or the like. The cryptographic component may contain, communicate,generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system, user, and/ordata communications, requests, and/or responses.

The VISD Databases

The VISD databases component 519 may be embodied in one database and itsstored data or may be embodied in two or more distinct databases andtheir stored data. For the purposes of simplicity of description,discussion of the VISD databases component 519 herein may refer to suchcomponent in the singular tense, however this is not to be considered aslimiting the VISD databases to an embodiment in which they reside in asingle database. The database is a stored program component, which isexecuted by the CPU; the stored program component portion configuringthe CPU to process the stored data. The database may be a conventional,fault tolerant, relational, scalable, secure database such as Oracle orSybase. Relational databases are an extension of a flat file. Relationaldatabases consist of a series of related tables. The tables areinterconnected via a key field. Use of the key field allows thecombination of the tables by indexing against the key field; i.e., thekey fields act as dimensional pivot points for combining informationfrom various tables. Relationships generally identify links maintainedbetween tables by matching primary keys. Primary keys represent fieldsthat uniquely identify the rows of a table in a relational database.More precisely, they uniquely identify rows of a table on the “one” sideof a one-to-many relationship.

Alternatively, the VISD database may be implemented using variousstandard data-structures, such as an array, hash, (linked) list, struct,structured text file (e.g., XML), table, and/or the like. Suchdata-structures may be stored in memory and/or in (structured) files. Inanother alternative, an object-oriented database may be used, such asFrontier, ObjectStore, Poet, Zope, and/or the like. Object databases caninclude a number of object collections that are grouped and/or linkedtogether by common attributes; they may be related to other objectcollections by some common attributes. Object-oriented databases performsimilarly to relational databases with the exception that objects arenot just pieces of data but may have other types of capabilitiesencapsulated within a given object. If the VISD database is implementedas a data-structure, the use of the VISD database 519 may be integratedinto another component such as the VISD component 535. Also, thedatabase may be implemented as a mix of data structures, objects, andrelational structures. Databases may be consolidated and/or distributedin countless variations through standard data processing techniques.Portions of databases, e.g., tables, may be exported and/or imported andthus decentralized and/or integrated.

In one embodiment, the database component 519 may include severalincluded databases or tables 519 a-f, examples of which are describedabove.

In one embodiment, the VISD database 519 may interact with otherdatabase systems. For example, employing a distributed database system,queries and data access by a search VISD component may treat thecombination of the VISD databases 519, an integrated data security layerdatabase as a single database entity.

In one embodiment, user programs may contain various user interfaceprimitives, which may serve to update the VISD. Also, various accountsmay require custom database tables depending upon the environments andthe types of clients the VISD may need to serve. It should be noted thatany unique fields may be designated as a key field throughout. In analternative embodiment, these tables have been decentralized into theirown databases and their respective database controllers (i.e.,individual database controllers for each of the above tables). Employingstandard data processing techniques, one may further distribute thedatabases over several computer systemizations and/or storage devices.Similarly, configurations of the decentralized database controllers maybe varied by consolidating and/or distributing the various databasecomponents 519 a-f. The VISD may be configured to keep track of varioussettings, inputs, and parameters via database controllers.

The VISD database may communicate to and/or with other components in acomponent collection, including itself, and/or facilities of the like.Most frequently, the VISD database communicates with the VISD component,other program components, and/or the like. The database may contain,retain, and provide information regarding other nodes and data.

The VISDs

The VISD component 535 is a stored program component that is executed bya CPU. In one embodiment, the VISD component incorporates any and/or allcombinations of the aspects of the VISD that was discussed in theprevious figures. As such, the VISD affects accessing, obtaining and theprovision of information, services, transactions, and/or the like acrossvarious communications networks. The features and embodiments of theVISD discussed herein increase network efficiency by reducing datatransfer requirements the use of more efficient data structures andmechanisms for their transfer and storage. As a consequence, more datamay be transferred in less time, and latencies with regard totransactions, are also reduced. In many cases, such reduction instorage, transfer time, bandwidth requirements, latencies, etc., willreduce the capacity and structural infrastructure requirements tosupport the VISD's features and facilities, and in many cases reduce thecosts, energy consumption/requirements, and extend the life of VISD'sunderlying infrastructure; this has the added benefit of making the VISDmore reliable. Similarly, many of the features and mechanisms aredesigned to be easier for users to use and access, thereby broadeningthe audience that may enjoy/employ and exploit the feature sets of theVISD; such ease of use also helps to increase the reliability of theVISD. In addition, the feature sets include heightened security as notedvia the Cryptographic components 520, 526, 528 and throughout, makingaccess to the features and data more reliable and secure.

The VISD component enabling access of information between nodes may bedeveloped by employing standard development tools and languages such as,but not limited to: Apache components, Assembly, ActiveX, binaryexecutables, (ANSI) (Objective-) C (++), C# and/or .NET, databaseadapters, CGI scripts, Java, JavaScript, mapping tools, procedural andobject oriented development tools, PERL, PHP, Python, shell scripts, SQLcommands, web application server extensions, web developmentenvironments and libraries (e.g., Microsoft's ActiveX; Adobe AIR, FLEX &FLASH; AJAX; (D)HTML; Dojo, Java; JavaScript; jQuery(UI); MooTools;Prototype; script.aculo.us; Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP);SWFObject; Yahoo! User Interface; and/or the like), WebObjects, and/orthe like. In one embodiment, the VISD server employs a cryptographicserver to encrypt and decrypt communications. The VISD component maycommunicate to and/or with other components in a component collection,including itself, and/or facilities of the like. Most frequently, theVISD component communicates with the VISD database, operating systems,other program components, and/or the like. The VISD may contain,communicate, generate, obtain, and/or provide program component, system,user, and/or data communications, requests, and/or responses.

Distributed VISDs

The structure and/or operation of any of the VISD node controllercomponents may be combined, consolidated, and/or distributed in anynumber of ways to facilitate development and/or deployment. Similarly,the component collection may be combined in any number of ways tofacilitate deployment and/or development. To accomplish this, one mayintegrate the components into a common code base or in a facility thatcan dynamically load the components on demand in an integrated fashion.

The component collection may be consolidated and/or distributed incountless variations through standard data processing and/or developmenttechniques. Multiple instances of any one of the program components inthe program component collection may be instantiated on a single node,and/or across numerous nodes to improve performance throughload-balancing and/or data-processing techniques. Furthermore, singleinstances may also be distributed across multiple controllers and/orstorage devices; e.g., databases. All program component instances andcontrollers working in concert may do so through standard dataprocessing communication techniques.

The configuration of the VISD controller will depend on the context ofsystem deployment. Factors such as, but not limited to, the budget,capacity, location, and/or use of the underlying hardware resources mayaffect deployment requirements and configuration. Regardless of if theconfiguration results in more consolidated and/or integrated programcomponents, results in a more distributed series of program components,and/or results in some combination between a consolidated anddistributed configuration, data may be communicated, obtained, and/orprovided. Instances of components consolidated into a common code basefrom the program component collection may communicate, obtain, and/orprovide data. This may be accomplished through intra-application dataprocessing communication techniques such as, but not limited to: datareferencing (e.g., pointers), internal messaging, object instancevariable communication, shared memory space, variable passing, and/orthe like.

If component collection components are discrete, separate, and/orexternal to one another, then communicating, obtaining, and/or providingdata with and/or to other component components may be accomplishedthrough inter-application data processing communication techniques suchas, but not limited to: Application Program Interfaces (API) informationpassage; (distributed) Component Object Model ((D)COM), (Distributed)Object Linking and Embedding ((D)OLE), and/or the like), Common ObjectRequest Broker Architecture (CORBA), Jini local and remote applicationprogram interfaces, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), Remote MethodInvocation (RMI), SOAP, process pipes, shared files, and/or the like.Messages sent between discrete component components forinter-application communication or within memory spaces of a singularcomponent for intra-application communication may be facilitated throughthe creation and parsing of a grammar. A grammar may be developed byusing development tools such as lex, yacc, XML, and/or the like, whichallow for grammar generation and parsing capabilities, which in turn mayform the basis of communication messages within and between components.

For example, a grammar may be arranged to recognize the tokens of anHTTP post command, e.g.:

w3c-post http:// . . . Value1

where Value1 is discerned as being a parameter because “http://” is partof the grammar syntax, and what follows is considered part of the postvalue. Similarly, with such a grammar, a variable “Value1” may beinserted into an “http://” post command and then sent. The grammarsyntax itself may be presented as structured data that is interpretedand/or otherwise used to generate the parsing mechanism (e.g., a syntaxdescription text file as processed by lex, yacc, etc.). Also, once theparsing mechanism is generated and/or instantiated, it itself mayprocess and/or parse structured data such as, but not limited to:character (e.g., tab) delineated text, HTML, structured text streams,XML, and/or the like structured data. In another embodiment,inter-application data processing protocols themselves may haveintegrated and/or readily available parsers (e.g., JSON, SOAP, and/orlike parsers) that may be employed to parse (e.g., communications) data.Further, the parsing grammar may be used beyond message parsing, but mayalso be used to parse: databases, data collections, data stores,structured data, and/or the like. Again, the desired configuration willdepend upon the context, environment, and requirements of systemdeployment.

For example, in some implementations, the VISD controller may beexecuting a PHP script implementing a Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”)socket server via the information server, which listens to incomingcommunications on a server port to which a client may send data, e.g.,data encoded in JSON format. Upon identifying an incoming communication,the PHP script may read the incoming message from the client device,parse the received JSON-encoded text data to extract information fromthe JSON-encoded text data into PHP script variables, and store the data(e.g., client identifying information, etc.) and/or extractedinformation in a relational database accessible using the StructuredQuery Language (“SQL”). An exemplary listing, written substantially inthe form of PHP/SQL commands, to accept JSON-encoded input data from aclient device via a SSL connection, parse the data to extract variables,and store the data to a database, is provided below:

<?PHP header(‘Content-Type: text/plain’); // set ip address and port tolisten to for incoming data $address = ‘192.168.0.100’; $port = 255; //create a server-side SSL socket, listen for/accept incomingcommunication $sock = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);socket_bind($sock, $address, $port) or die( ‘Could not bind toaddress’); socket_listen($sock); $client = socket_accept($sock); // readinput data from client device in 1024 byte blocks until end of messagedo {  $input = “”;  $input = socket_read($client, 1024);  $data .=$input; } while($input != “”); // parse data to extract variables $obj =json_decode($data, true); // store input data in a databasemysgl_connect(“201.408.185.132”,$DBserver,$password); // access databaseserver mysgl_select(“CLIENT_DB.SQL”); // select database to appendmysgl_guery(“INSERT INTO UserTable (transmission) VALUES ($data)”); //add data to UserTable table in a CLIENT databasemysgl_close(“CLIENT_DB.SQL”); // close connection to database ?>

Also, the following resources may be used to provide example embodimentsregarding SOAP parser implementation:

http://www.xav.com/perl/site/lib/SOAP/Parser.htmlhttp://publib.boulder.ibm.com/Infocenter/tivihelp/v2r1/Index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm  .IBMDI.doc/referenceguide295.htmand other parser implementations:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v2rl/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm  .IBMDI.doc/referenceguide259.htmall of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference.

In order to address various issues and advance the art, the entirety ofthis application for VIDEO INDEXING, SEARCH AND DELIVERY PLATFORMS,METHODS, SYSTEMS AND APPARATUSES (including the Cover Page, Title,Headings, Cross-Reference to Related Application, Background, BriefSummary, Brief Description of the Drawings, Detailed Description,Claims, Figures, and otherwise) shows, by way of illustration, variousembodiments in which the claimed innovations may be practiced. Theadvantages and features of the application are of a representativesample of embodiments only, and are not exhaustive and/or exclusive.They are presented only to assist in understanding and teach the claimedprinciples. It should be understood that they are not representative ofall claimed innovations. As such, certain aspects of the disclosure havenot been discussed herein. That alternate embodiments may not have beenpresented for a specific portion of the innovations or that furtherundescribed alternate embodiments may be available for a portion is notto be considered a disclaimer of those alternate embodiments. It will beappreciated that many of those undescribed embodiments incorporate thesame principles of the innovations and others are equivalent. Thus, itis to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized andfunctional, logical, operational, organizational, structural and/ortopological modifications may be made without departing from the scopeand/or spirit of the disclosure. As such, all examples and/orembodiments are deemed to be non-limiting throughout this disclosure.Also, no inference should be drawn regarding those embodiments discussedherein relative to those not discussed herein other than it is as suchfor purposes of reducing space and repetition. For instance, it is to beunderstood that the logical and/or topological structure of anycombination of any program components (a component collection), othercomponents and/or any present feature sets as described in the figuresand/or throughout are not limited to a fixed operating order and/orarrangement, but rather, any disclosed order is exemplary and allequivalents, regardless of order, are contemplated by the disclosure.Furthermore, it is to be understood that such features are not limitedto serial execution, but rather, any number of threads, processes,services, servers, and/or the like that may execute asynchronously,concurrently, in parallel, simultaneously, synchronously, and/or thelike are contemplated by the disclosure. As such, some of these featuresmay be mutually contradictory, in that they cannot be simultaneouslypresent in a single embodiment. Similarly, some features are applicableto one aspect of the innovations, and inapplicable to others. Inaddition, the disclosure includes other innovations not presentlyclaimed. Applicant reserves all rights in those presently unclaimedinnovations including the right to claim such innovations, fileadditional applications, continuations, continuations in part,divisions, and/or the like thereof. As such, it should be understoodthat advantages, embodiments, examples, functional, features, logical,operational, organizational, structural, topological, and/or otheraspects of the disclosure are not to be considered limitations on thedisclosure as defined by the claims or limitations on equivalents to theclaims. It is to be understood that, depending on the particular needsand/or characteristics of a VISD individual and/or enterprise user,database configuration and/or relational model, data type, datatransmission and/or network framework, syntax structure, and/or thelike, various embodiments of the VISD, may be implemented that enable agreat deal of flexibility and customization. For example, aspects of theVISD may be adapted for video, audio or any other content. While variousembodiments and discussions of the VISD have included video and socialinteraction, however, it is to be understood that the embodimentsdescribed herein may be readily configured and/or customized for a widevariety of other applications and/or implementations.

1-17. (canceled)
 18. A method for ingesting and delivering videocomprising: crawling, by a crawler component executed by a processor,one or more predetermined video reference sources and selectivelyingesting, by an ingest component executed by a processor, metadata ofone or more corresponding videos based on predetermined ingest criteria;analyzing the ingested video metadata, by an analysis component executedby a processor, to identify moments in the corresponding video byparsing comments relating to the video, identifying a moment if acomment includes a reference to a time in the video and storing the timeand a text of the comment in a record of the moment; filtering thevideos, by a filtering component executed by a processor, based onpredetermined filtering criteria corresponding to at least a firstchannel to identify first channel videos; rating, by a rating componentexecuted by a processor, the first channel videos according topredetermined rating factors, at least one of which is based on anymoments identified in the video; and selectively delivering the firstchannel videos, by a delivery component executed by a processor, basedon results of the rating step.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein, forat least one video, metadata is ingested from both its video referencesource and from a video host, the video host being different than thevideo reference source and hosting the at least one video.
 20. Themethod of claim 18, further comprising after a video's metadata is firstingested, ingesting additional metadata for the video that is datedafter a last time that metadata was ingested for the video.
 21. Themethod of claim 20, further comprising identifying additional moments inthe additional metadata, identifying an additional moment if a commentin the additional metadata includes a reference to a time in the videoand storing the time and a text of such a comment in a record of theadditional moment.
 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising ratingthe video after ingesting the additional metadata based on all metadataingested for the video.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein a firstfirst channel video is delivered to a user as a result of the deliveringstep and the method further comprises, after delivering the first firstchannel video, re-rating remaining first channel videos after ingestingadditional metadata and delivering a second first channel video afterthe first first channel video based on the re-rating.
 24. The method ofclaim 20, wherein a first first channel video is delivered to a user asa result of the delivering step and the method further comprises, afterdelivering the first first channel video: ingesting metadatacorresponding to additional videos; analyzing the metadata of theadditional videos to identify moments in the corresponding additionalvideo by parsing comments relating to the additional video, identifyinga moment if a comment includes a reference to a time in the additionalvideo and storing the time and a text of the comment in a record of themoment; filtering the additional videos, based on the predeterminedfiltering criteria corresponding to at least the first channel toidentify additional first channel videos; re-rating the remaining firstchannel videos together with the additional first channel videosaccording to predetermined rating factors, at least one of which isbased on any moments identified in the videos; and selectivelydelivering a second first channel video from among the remaining firstchannel videos and additional first channel videos based on results ofthe re-rating step.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the ingesting,analyzing, filtering, re-rating and delivering steps of claim 24 areperformed continuously.
 26. The method of claim 24, wherein theingesting, analyzing, filtering, re-rating and delivering steps of claim24 are performed re-iteratively and at fixed time intervals.
 27. Themethod of claim 18, wherein the first channel videos are selectivelydelivered one after another order of their rank as determined by theranking step.
 28. The method of claim 18, wherein the predeterminedfiltering criteria include at least a predetermined search term and thefiltering step includes at least identifying a first channel video ifthe search term is present in a predetermined number of momentscorresponding to the video.
 29. The method of claim 18, wherein thepredetermined filtering criteria include at least a predetermined videocategory and the filtering step includes at least identifying a firstchannel video if the metadata of a video includes a video categorycorresponding to the predetermined video category.
 30. The method ofclaim 29, wherein video category metadata is a type of metadata ingestedin the ingesting step and is established by at least one of the videoreference source and a video host.
 31. The method of claim 18, furthercomprising presenting a listing of the first channel videos orderedaccording to the results of the ranking step.
 32. The method of claim18, further comprising receiving a selection from a user of the firstchannel and, as a result, performing the selectively delivering step todeliver a first first channel video and recording an indication that theuser viewed the first first channel video as a result of having selectedthe first channel.
 33. The method of claim 18, wherein the predeterminedrating factors include at least a total number of moments identified foreach video.
 34. The method of claim 18, wherein the predetermined ratingfactors include at least, for each video, a sum of the number of momentsidentified in the video, a decay function being applied to each momentprior to summing so as to place more emphasis on more recent moments.35. The method of claim 18, wherein the predetermined rating factorsinclude at least a user defined preference and the rating step resultsin a personalized rating of the first channel videos for users.
 36. Amethod for ingesting and delivering video comprising: crawling, by acrawler component executed by a processor, one or more predeterminedvideo reference sources and selectively ingesting, by an ingestcomponent executed by a processor, metadata of one or more correspondingvideos based on predetermined ingest criteria; analyzing the ingestedvideo metadata, by an analysis component executed by a processor, toidentify moments in the corresponding video by parsing comments relatingto the video, identifying a moment if a comment includes a reference toa time in the video and storing the time and a text of the comment in arecord of the moment; filtering the videos, by a filtering componentexecuted by a processor, based on at least predetermined first channelfiltering criteria to identify first channel videos and predeterminedsecond channel filtering criteria, different than the first channelfiltering criteria, to identify second channel videos; rating, by arating component executed by a processor, the first channel videosaccording to predetermined first channel rating factors and the secondchannel videos according to predetermined second channel rating factors;and upon selection by a user of one of the first channel and the secondchannel, selectively delivering the respective first or second channelvideos, by a delivery component executed by a processor, based onresults of the rating step.
 37. A method for ingesting and deliveringvideo comprising: crawling, by a crawler component executed by aprocessor, one or more predetermined video reference sources andselectively ingesting, by an ingest component executed by a processor,metadata of one or more corresponding videos based on predeterminedingest criteria; analyzing the ingested video metadata, by an analysiscomponent executed by a processor, to identify moments in thecorresponding video by parsing comments relating to the video,identifying a moment if a comment includes a reference to a time in thevideo and storing the time and a text of the comment in a record of themoment; filtering the videos, by a filtering component executed by aprocessor, based on predetermined filtering criteria corresponding to atleast a first channel to identify first channel videos; recording useractivity data related to a user's activity with respect to one or morevideos for which metadata is ingested; rating for a particular user, bya rating component executed by a processor, the first channel videosaccording to predetermined rating factors, including at least comparingthe metadata of the first channel videos to the particular user'srecorded activity data to obtain a personalized rating of the firstchannel videos for the particular user; and selectively delivering thefirst channel videos, by a delivery component executed by a processor,based on the personalized rating of the first channel videos for theparticular user.
 38. The method of claim 37, wherein the user activitydata includes at least an indication of videos liked by the particularuser and the rating step includes at least comparing metadata of videosliked by the particular user to metadata of the first channel videos.